OUR WORK IN WALES

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Save the Children first started working in Wales during the 1930s depression, supporting miners’ families who were living in severe poverty in the south Wales valleys.

Today, almost one in three children lives in poverty in Wales. This is a higher proportion than in any other nation in the UK, and equals around 200,000 children.

Poverty has significant consequences for children in all areas of their

development. The gap in outcomes for children living in poverty and their better off peers remains wide in their standard of living, health and educational attainment.

Save the Children believes every child deserves a good childhood and a bright future. Through our innovative programmes and our campaigning work, we tackle child poverty so that young children have the support they need to grow, develop and learn.

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OUR HISTORY

OUR PROGRAMMES: SUPPORTING FAMILIES IN NEED To ensure that children get the best start in life, we support families in some of the most deprived communities in Wales. Our teams work with partners in education, health and social care to deliver a range of programmes with the aim of ensuring poorer children are not left behind in their all-important early years.

In HomesWe support families to create a positive home environment, and give them the tools they need to support their children’s learning at home. 

Through Eat, Sleep, Learn, Play! (ESLP) we award grants for essential items for children’s development, such as a bed, a cooker, or toys and books, to low income families who simply can’t afford to buy these items themselves.

FFION’S STORY‘When Ffion was born, I suffered really badly with postnatal depression, so it kicked off my panic and anxiety into overdrive…. we didn’t know how we were going to cope…If we hadn’t had the cot bed from Save the Children, we wouldn’t have managed. You don’t know how happy we were when it arrived.’ (Mam, Merthyr)

ESLP! ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROGRESS SINCE 2011

4,156 grants to date

9,785 children reached

In Schools

We’ve been running the award-winning Families and Schools Together (FAST) programme in Wales since 2010. In that time, we’ve supported nearly 4000 children and 2000 families. FAST helps build stronger relationships between parents, schools and communities.

Each week children and parents take part in activities that strengthen family bonds and improve educational development - things like eating a family meal together, family play time and one-to-one parent-child support.

‘Following the completion of FAST my child is more happy and more confident’. (FAST parent)

‘FAST has promoted strength through unity of families and shown that stability forms the bedrock upon which children can aspire to achieve their full potential.’ (FAST Head Teacher)

We’re bringing parents, children and teachers together to make sure children get the support they need to fulfil their potential at school and in later life.

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By Spring 2017, we ran over 100 cycles of FAST in 80 schools across Wales.

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FAST ACHIEVEMENTS

Our Families Connect  programme empowers parents to create a supportive home learning environment, so that children can achieve their full potential at school and in life.

Over the course of eight weeks, parents learn how to support their children’s education at home by doing a series of fun and engaging activities.

In the Community

In times of need: Humanitarian

Learn Together Cymru

Working with Save the Children and schools, volunteering charity Volunteering Matters is delivering Learn Together Cymru, a three year pan-Wales Big Lottery funded intergenerational project. It aims to recruit and train 450 parents and carers as classroom volunteers to

support 21,000 pupils with their reading and other basic skills.

For more information go to learntogethercymru.org.uk

Take Care is made up of a consortium with Save the Children UK, Save the Children Italy, Lancaster University, the Open University of Catalonia, the University of Thessaly, and the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon.

Take Care is designed to increase the resilience of children, young people and urban communities to disasters. It also aims to help emergency planners and responders meet children and young people’s needs more effectively.

Two schools in Wales, Millbrook Primary School (Bettws, Newport - pictured below) and Trallwn Primary School (Llansamlet, Swansea), have been part of this multi-national, EU-funded project.

The early years are a critical stage in a child’s development.But right now, too many children in Wales are falling behind before they even start school. And it’s those growing up in poverty who are most affected.

Today in Wales, the poorest children are twice as likely to score below average for language development at age five. They may start school struggling to speak in full sentences or understand simple instructions from parents, teachers and friends. Many of them may struggle to catch up, making it harder for them to do well at school, or succeed in the world of work.

OUR CAMPAIGN FOCUS IN WALES: EARLY YEARS EDUCATION AND CARE

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That’s why we’re asking the Welsh Government to take action and invest in better support for parents, and to make sure early years staff can deliver world-class early learning and childcare.

You can support the campaign on our website - savethechildren.org.uk/wales

Through our global programmes and advocacy, we help millions of children around the world to ensure:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday

• All children learn from a quality basic education

• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our campaign, Every Last Child, aims to make sure millions of the world’s forgotten children are able to get life-saving healthcare and to go to school over the next three years.

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OUR GLOBAL WORK

Volunteers contribute to our work in many different ways, including raising vital funds for our work for children and campaigning for change. Whether it’s arranging a fundraising event, taking on sponsored challenges,

speaking out in communities across Wales about our work, or contacting their Assembly Members about our campaigns, every action makes a huge difference to our work.

For more information about our work in Wales, please contact walesinfo@savethechildren.org.uk or call us on 029 20 396838.

www.savethechildren.org.uk/wales

@savechildrencym @savethechildrenwales

Registered charity England and Wales (213890) Scotland (SCO39570)

Our fantastic network of volunteers in Wales give their time, passion and energy to achieve change for children. Across Wales, our volunteers help us to reach more people, establish wider networks and champion the rights of children in more communities than ever before.

OUR SUPPORTERS AND FUNDRAISERSPh

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